College's Communication Regarding Missed Days

SUBJECT:     Make-up Days Following Class Cancellations

Due to Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath, the College was closed for an entire week of classes.  Since it would have been impossible to make up all of the missed instructional time, we have petitioned SUNY, the State Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education for relief in order to shorten our semester by that amount of time.  Our regularly scheduled make-up days will be employed for other closings as needed.  Therefore, the day classes that would have run today, Thursday, November 8^th, are now scheduled to be made up on Thursday, December 20^th.

Many faculty members have already made alternative arrangements to ensure that students receive the full course content and we applaud these efforts.  Options to make up work lost as a result of Hurricane Sandy include the use of D2L or an extension of class time for evening classes.  Weekend faculty should feel free to use the regularly scheduled make-up days of Saturday, December 22 and Sunday, December 23 to hold classes if needed.  Faculty should contact their department chair or academic associate dean for assistance.

I wish to thank the members of the calendar committee for their comments and suggestions throughout this very difficult period, as well as the Faculty Association and the members of the Board of Trustees who provided their advice and counsel.

Thank you for your flexibility and understanding.  Let us hope that the weather improves for the remainder of the semester and that our students and colleagues who are suffering from the aftermath of the storm recover quickly and completely.

Writing Assignment Update

The following article was published this past Sunday in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/opinion/sunday/kristof-cuddle-your-kid.html?_r=0

 It is an interesting look at at issues pertinent to the current election- education and poverty as well as psychology and neuroscience. Anyone in my Psychology classes can use this article as a base for one of the writing assignments and follow the additional requirements (i.e. obtain one other source). This can count towards one of the ones you need to complete.

Just a reminder that as the semester moves on you need to be aware of the writing assignments. Please see the syllabus for the details and me if you have any questions!

REMINDER-MENTAL HEALTH AWARNESS DAY TOMMOROW

JUST A REMINDER TO ALL STUDENTS THAT MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS DAY IS TAKING PLACE TOMMOROW, OCTOBER 10, FROM 9:30am-3:00pm IN THE BABYLON STUDENT CENTER. PLEASE CHECK MY AUGUST POST FOR DETAILS ABOUT HOW ANY PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT CAN EARN EXTRA CREDIT BY ATTENDING!

PSY 201 STUDENTS- in lieu of class tommorow, you can attend the Biology of Addiction seminar and do the extra credit. As a result class will not be meeting Wednesday October 10th and we will be having our first exam, next class, Monday October 15th.

UPDATE/EXAMS

Just a reminder that next week, Wednesday October 10th, is Suffolk Community College's Mental Health Awareness day. Please see August post for extra credit opportunity!

The following link is in regards to a California law affecting Mental Health Professionals and revolves around how the issue of sexual orientation is handled in this setting: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/california-s-ban-sexual-orientation-therapy-face-legal-challenges

Finally, we are to the point of first exams this semester. The following is a schedule of exams:

Psy 215- Monday/Wednesday 8:00am- Exam, Monday, October 8th

Psy 201-Monday/Wednesday 9:30am- Monday, October 15th (Please remember class on the 10th will be in the Orient Point Room in the Student Union at "The Biology of Addiction" Presentation

Psy 101- Tuesday/Thursday 9:30- Tuesday, October 2nd

Psy 101-Tuesday/Thursday 11:00am- Tuesday, October 9th

Psy 215-Tuesday/Thursday 12:30- Thursday, October 4th

PLEASE NOTE: Makeup exams are not offered during the semester. If you miss an exam the makeup is given at the end of the semester. Also, you can only make up one exam.


Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

GENERAL UPDATE

Just wanted to do a general class update.

Please remember that you have the writing assignments from Pearson MyPsychLab coming due. They are due the week after (2nd day) of the week they are assigned on the syllabus.

Most classes have their first exams coming up. Begin studying now! The information piles up and it will be a lot of information.

I will be doing reviewes for the exams. The way I do reviews is students are allowed to bring in questions. The more questions you bring in the more extensive the review!

Also remember that Suffolk Community College's Mental Heaalth Awareness day is coming up on Octboer 10th. Please see the previous post (August) to get the details of earning extra credit on your 2nd Exam.

Finally, for those of you that are interested, in the spirit of the release of the Avengers on DVD......see this link http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/09/26/assembling-an-avenger-inside-the-brain-of-iron-man/ which discusses how neuroscientists are exploring the possibility of building an iron-man like suit for humans!

Psychology 201-BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR UPDATE

The issues regarding MYPSYCHLAB for Psy 201 have been resolved. Psy201 students can log into it using the following information:

Course Id: vollaro44384
Access Code: BPPBPT-FZZZZ-COCC1-ADANA-RIANT-HIKES

Please be aware that the publisher has limted the number of people that can use this code so do not give it out as if we pass the number of people enrolled in this class than class members will be locked out.

Also, I have found the following link: http://bama.ua.edu/~sprentic/101%20SAMind%202010-May-June%20issue.pdf

This is the entire "His Brain/Her Brain" issue from teh Scientific American Mind. Those who want to do a paper on brain differences in gender can use this as a starting point. (Note: This would be in lieu of the writing assignments on the syllabus).

You can approach this assignment by taking one of these articles as a starting point and then finding a minimum of one other sources (peer reviewed) on the same topic and completing a research paper on this topic. Alternatively, you uses 3 of these articles and complete the paper using these as your soruces. The writing assignment must follow all the other crierion outlined on the syllabus (APA format, etc).

MULTI-MEDIA ACCESS

I have finally gotten to the bottom of the issue with some of the homework assignments. Students will not be seeing anything listed under "Multi-Media" in the syllabus. I am working with Pearson to see if we can resolve the problem. I know there are a few assignments that are already due with materials under these and once we get this straigthened out I will allow you do do them and submit them. I am hoping we can have this working by next week!